The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in the

Context of ‘Sustainable Crop Production Intensification’ and Adaptation to Climate

Change

Norman Uphoff, Cornell University

FAO/Bangkok seminar, AIT, April 11, 2013

SRI has been unfortunately and unnecessarily controversial

No ‘magic’ – simply good agronomy

SRI is ideas rather than a technology; it is more a matter of learning and experimentation than of ‘transfer’

SRI is more appropriately viewed as a MENU than as a RECIPE

SRI is a work in progress, not finished

Now SRI ideas are being extended and extrapolated to many other crops

Need to Change the Concepts and the Practices of ‘Intensification’

So far this strategy has been based on:• Intensification of ENERGY inputs

– increased mechanization . . .• Intensification of CHEMICAL

inputs -- inorganic fertilizer and agrochemical crop protection . . .

• Intensification of WATER inputs – widespread irrigation . . .

• Intensification of CAPITAL inputs – ever-increasing investment . . .

In the 21st Century, We Face Greatly Changing Conditions for Agriculture

• Costs of ENERGY inputs are now higher, and availability is less certain -- also see negative environmental externalities

• Costs of fossil-fuel-based CHEMICAL inputs are rising -- and we see their adverse effects on soil and water quality

• The amounts and reliability of WATER for agriculture are becoming more problematic, more limiting, more costly

• Climate change presents many hazards incl. increase in pest & disease problems

The World -- and particularly Asia --Needs ‘a New Intensification’

• Instead of continuing with a strategy of achieving MORE OUTPUT form MORE INPUTS

• We should learn how we can produce MORE OUTPUT with REDUCED INPUTS – relying more on nature’s processes than on our own

• Not considered possible with a MECHANICAL mindset – zero-sum, even negative-sum

• It is possible within a BIOLOGICAL framework -- positive-sum, by capitalizing on sun’s energy

• This points to a major shift in paradigms

What has been the greatest paradigm shift for humankind?

• Arguably the shift from a Ptolemaic (geocentric) understanding of the universe, to a Copernican (heliocentric) conception

• The ‘new intensification’ will redirect our thinking and actions in agriculture from their current EGOCENTRIC orientation, that regards us humans as the primary actors

• To a more HELIOCENTRIC orientation that appreciates the power and productivity of natural systems which give rise to the processes and potentials of biology

We humans are part of nature and need to learn to cooperate with it

• The supposedly impossible challenge of producing more from less has been shown to be possible from our experience with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) developed in Madagascar and now being used increasingly widely around the world

• SRI increases yields and provides other advantages not by increasing external inputs but by changing the management of existing resources: plants, soil, water and nutrients

• Can elaborate on this if there are questions

Before 1999: Madagascar1999 China, Indonesia2000-02: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cuba, Gambia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Thailand (15 at Sanya conference, 2002)2003: Benin, Guinea, Mozambique, Peru 2004-05: Senegal, Pakistan, Vietnam2006: Burkina Faso, Bhutan, Iran, Iraq, Zambia

2007: Afghanistan, Brazil, Mali 2008: Rwanda, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ecuador, Ghana, Japan 2009: Malaysia, Timor Leste2010: Kenya, DPRK, Panama, Haiti2011: Colombia, Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania 2012: Burundi, Dominican Republic, Niger, Nigeria, Togo (total of 51)

2013: >50 countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America where benefits of SRI management

have been seen

PANO – Vietnam celebrated over a million small-scale farmers who are embracing a technique that grows more rice with less seeds, fertilizer, water, and pesticides in an event at Thai Nguyen University on October 18th.

The technique is called ‘system of rice intensification’ or SRI for short, which is a package of agricultural techniques for hand-planted rice that helps farmers reduce their costs while increasing their production. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that by the summer-autumn crop this year, there are 1,070,384 farmers using SRI on 185,065 hectares (457,110 acres) in their rice fields. The number of farmers using SRI practices in Vietnam has tripled since 2009. . . .

OVER 1 MILLION VIETNAMESE FARMERS BENEFIT FROM SRI

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 20:48 (GMT +7)

Year2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

20092010

Total

SRI area (ha)1,13

37,26

757,40

0117,2

67204,4

67252,4

67301,0

67941,0

68SRI yield (kg/ha)

9,105

9,435

8,805 9,075 9,300 9,495 9,555 9,252

Non-SRI yield (kg/ha)

7,740

7,650

7,005 7,395 7,575 7,710 7,740 7,545

SRI increment

(t/ha)*1,36

51,78

51,80

0#

1,680

1,725

1,785

1,815#

1,708

SRI yield increase

(%) *17.6

%23.3

%25.7% 22.7% 22.8% 23.2% 23.5% 22.7%

Grain increase

(tons）1,54

712,9

71103,3

20197,0

08352,7

05450,6

53546,4

361.66 mill

Added net income fromSRI use (million

RMB)*1.28

11.64

106.5

205.1

450.8

571.7

704.3

2,051

(>$300 mill)

* Comparison is with Sichuan provincial average for paddy yield and SRI returns # Drought years: SRI yields were relatively better than with conventional methods Source: Data are from the Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture.

CHINA: SRI extension/impact in Sichuan Province, 2004-10

INDIA: Results from Bihar state, 2007-2012

SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION -- state average yield: 2.3 t/ha

  2007 2008 2009 2010 2012 Climatic conditions

Normal rainfall

2 timesflooding

Drought + rain in Sept.

Complete drought

Good rainfall

No. of smallholders 128 5,146 8,367 19,911 NR Area under SRI (ha) 30 544 786 1,412 335,000 SRI yield (t/ha) 10.0 7.75 6.5 3.22* 8.08 Conv. yield (t/ha) 2.7 2.36 2.02 1.66* 2.9

 , 

SYSTEM OF WHEAT INTENSIFICATION -- state average yield: 2.4 t/ha

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2011-12 No. of smallholders 415 25,235 48,521 NR Area under SWI (ha) 16 1,200 2,536 183,085 SWI yield (t/ha) 3.6 4.5 NR 5.1 Conv. yield (t/ha) 1.6 1.6 NR 2.7

* Results from measurements of yield on 74 farmers’ SRI and conventional fields

SRI benefits are more than an increase in yield:

• Water saving• More tolerance of climate stresses• Resistance to pests and disease

• Reduced costs of production• Higher farmer income

• More environmentally-friendly• Grain quality, shorter crop cycle, etc.

Other Benefits from Changes in Practices

1. Water saving – major concern in many places, also now have ‘rainfed’ version with similar results

2. Greater resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses – less damage from pests and diseases, drought, typhoons, flooding, cold spells [discuss tomorrow]

3. Shorter crop cycle – same varieties are harvested by 1-3 weeks sooner, save water, less crop risk

4. High milling output – by about 15%, due to fewer unfilled grains (less chaff) and fewer broken grains

5. Reductions in labor requirements – widely reported incentive for changing practices in India and China; also, mechanization is being introduced many places

6. Reductions in costs of production – greater farmer income and profitability, also health benefits

Drought-resistance: Rice fields in Sri Lanka, same variety and same soil 3 weeks after irrigation had stopped because of drought – conventional rice

field (left) and SRI (right)

Storm resistance: Dông Trù village,Ha Noi province, Vietnam, after

fields were hit bya tropical storm

Right: conventional

field and plant;Left: SRI field

and plant

Same variety usedin both fields:

serious lodging seen on right --

no lodging on left

Disease and pest resistance: Evaluation bythe Vietnam National IPM Program, 2005-06 –

averages of data from on-farm trials in 8 provinces

Spring season Summer season

SRIplots

Farmer

plots

Differ-ence

SRIplots

Farmerplots

Differ-ence

Sheath blight

6.7% 18.1%

63.0% 5.2% 19.8% 73.7%

Leaf blight -- -- -- 8.6% 36.3% 76.5%

Small leaf folder *

63.4 107.7 41.1% 61.8 122.3 49.5%

Brown plant hopper *

542 1,440 62.4% 545 3,214 83.0%

AVERAGE 55.5% 70.7%

* Insects/m2

Resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses:

fields in East Java, Indonesia hit by both brown planthopper (BPH)

and by storm damage (typhoon): the rice field on the left was managed with standard practices; organic SRI is

seen on right

Modern improved variety

(Ciherang) – no yield

Traditional aromatic variety

(Sintanur)- 8 t/ha

Irrigation method

Seedling age

Spacing(cm2)

Plant lodging (in percent)

Partial Complete Total

Inter-mittent

irrigation (AWDI)

1430x30 6.67 0 6.67

30x18 40.00 6.67 46.67

2130x30 26.67 20 46.67

30x18 13.33 13.33 26.67

Ordinary irrigation (continuo

us flooding)

1430x30 16.67 33.33 50.00

30x18 26.67 53.33 80.00

2130x30 20 76.67 96.67

30x18 13.33 80 93.33

% lodging of rice as affected by irrigation practices when combined with different ages of

seedlings and different spacings in trials done in Chiba, Japan

(Chapagain and Yamaji, Paddy and Water Environment, 2009)

Resistance to cold temperatures: Yield and meteorological data from ANGRAU,

A.P., India

Period Mean max. temp. 0C

Mean min.

temp. 0C

No. of sunshine hrs

1 – 15 Nov 27.7 19.2 4.9

16–30 Nov 29.6 17.9 7.5

1 – 15 Dec 29.1 14.6 8.6

16–31 Dec 28.1 12.2# 8.6# Sudden drop in minimum temp. for 5 days (16–21 Dec

= 9.2-9.9o C )

Season Normal (t/ha) SRI (t/ha)

Kharif 2006 0.21* 4.16

Rabi 2005-06 2.25 3.47

* Low yield was due to cold injury to plants (see below)

Comparison of methane and nitrous oxide emissions (GHGs)

CT SRI

kg C

H4

/ ha

0

200

400

600

800

1000

840.1

237.6

72 %

Treatment

Emission (kg/ha)CO2 ton/ha equivalentCH4 N2O

CT 840.1 0 17.6

SRI 237.6 0.074 5.0

SRI practices are being used beyond RICE:

Farmer-led innovations -- with CSO help -- in:

• Wheat (SWI) -- India, Nepal, Ethiopia, Mali

• Sugarcane (SSI) -- India, Cuba

• Finger millet (SFMI) -- India, Ethiopia

• Mustard/rapeseed/canola (SMI) -- India

• Teff (STI) -- Ethiopia

• Sorghum (SSI2) – Ethiopia

• Turmeric (STI2) -- India

System of Crop Intensification (SCI): maize, black gram, green gram, red gram, tomatoes, chillies, eggplant, sesame, etc. -- India, Ethiopia

WHEAT: SWI (left) vs. conventional plants in Bihar, India

Phenotypical differences in wheat panicles

with SWI practice seen

in Nepal

TEF: Application of SRI concepts and practices to

growing tef (STI) in Ethiopia,

most popular grain

Left: transplanted tef

Right: broadcasted tef

Conventional yield usually only 1

t/ha,STI = 3 to 5

t/ha;with micronutrient

amendments, yields

6 t/ha and higher

Good STI tef crop in Tigray province of Ethiopia

ICRISAT-WWFSugarcane

Initiative: • 20-100% more

cane yield, with • 30% reduction in

water, and • 25% reduction in

chemical inputs

“The inspiration for putting

this package together is from the successful approach of SRI –

System of Rice Intensification.”

SUGARCANE: SSI cane plants seen in

India – SSI is now getting

started in Cuba,known as SiCAS

What is creating these changes?

• Growth and health of ROOT systems

• Greater abundance, activity and diversity of beneficial SOIL

ORGANISMS

SRI practices promote the LIFE IN THE SOIL and this life, in

turn, can nurture us and feed us!

SRI is ‘not finished’ • We see learning, modification, adaptation and further expansion – with continuous farmer innovation

• SRI mobilizes biological potentials and processes, rather than depend so much on costly chemical inputs

or requiring new varieties• Most important, SRI is farmer-

friendly and environmentally-friendly – resistant to climate change

and even helping to mitigate this